Tag: ecofriendly

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Yesterday, I was reminiscing on the broad spectrum of topics that I address on this blog, which fall under the categories of finance, minimalism, ethical consumerism, ecofriendly habit shifts, and slow living, with occasional pesky posts spilling outside of these confines. I addressed on Instragram the difficulty with sticking to all the things that make up a whole “me”, adding a friendly reminder to always do “you”. The one thing that I did not speak aloud but which was ever present in my conscious mind was the fact that every one-way conversation I have on this site (and other platforms) has privilege written all over it.

There, I’ve said it.

Privilege is a word that has taken on a new meaning in today’s social context. When I bring up privilege in a conversation, people tend to act in a very defensive way, as if I had called them a name or said a bad word in front of the kids. They usually comment how they are not at all privileged and that they fall under a meager “middle-class” title. Do not get me wrong. I am not “wealthy” by American standards. As you all know, our net worth is negative half a million dollars, we rent a space and rely on co-housing in order to save money, we use travel rewards to travel, and our grocery budget is $50 a week. Still, I am able to say that as a middle-class U.S. citizen, I am extremely privileged.

When it comes to finances, it is apparent that I am of a well enough financial status to be able to look at my money and direct where it is going. I am able to have the access to loans in the first place to get a good education and to secure a career. I am then able to make enough to pay down the debt and to plan for a future. People around the world cannot even plan for a meal to eat tonight, let alone a safe place to “live”. Having a way to choose to budget my way towards financial freedom at a young age is something I feel very lucky to be a part of.

When it comes to minimalism, I have enough stuff that surrounding myself with only things I love requires constant re-evaluation. The problem that we face when people refuse to honor our request for no gifts on special occasions is a problem many others would embrace. The fact that we are in a constant state of de-cluttering is only a painful and embarrassing reminder to myself that there are other people in the world who would beg for these things, but to whom I cannot get access to give these things to.

When it comes to ethical consumerism, I have access to markets that are mindful with their practices in production. I have the monetary ability to support ethical companies, and I have the material excess to not support unethical ones. I am able to be selective and can choose to go without when the price is too high, or when the ethics is absent. There is a quote that states that every dollar we use to consume goods is a vote towards the world we want to see. However, I recognize the unfairness of that quote. A mother in a third world country who does not have the money to pay for an expensive, ethically-made shirt is not automatically a mother who does not want to see a better world for her child.

When it comes to eco-friendly habit shifts, I am aware of the resources needed in order to create lifestyle changes for the better of the environment in the first place. It is already difficult enough to find the resources to be eco-friendly in a well-off community of Orange County, California. Imagine how much more difficult it must be for a Filipino to find sources of clean water outside of plastic bottles. As the island sinks underneath its own waste, don’t you think it has crossed their minds that this is unhealthy to the environment? And yet I ask, where do you expect them to get clean water?

When it comes to slow living, I have the space and time to reflect on ways in which I can have less in my life. I run away from having too much. I have a career that allows me time away from work in order to focus on myself. Me, me, me.

The complexities of privilege are so immense, and so conflicted, and so twisted, that it’s hard to describe exactly where each of us falls. What I know is this. If you are reading this blog, and you are trying to attempt financial freedom, or be an ethical shopper, or curb your environmental footprint, or embrace minimalism and slow living, please pause and recognize that you are of the privileged. Please use that privilege to make a difference in the world by being extremely intentional in the way you live, and the way you consume all things. Not just for the factory worker or child laboring in a far off land, but also, for the mother in your neighborhood who lives off of food stamps and does not have the extra dollars to “cast a vote for the world she wants to see.”

In writing this, I am not a martyr or a saint. The martyrs and saints are swimming in poverty, faced with disease and famine, caught in a state of war, plagued with injustice and ill-fate, and still, are trying to raise their children to be good people.

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For those looking to celebrate Earth Day, here are some fun, and simple suggestions.

Join a group for a beach clean up.

Or gather a group of friends and family and do it on your own. Also applicable to nearby parks, lakes, neighborhoods, and more. Make it a fun event so that more people will want to go. Here’s a local option in Orange County, if you are around.

Make a habit shift.

For example, when you do groceries this Sunday, try our No Plastic Challenge. We make an effort to never leave a grocery store with single-use plastic containers, even if they ARE recyclable. There are many habits worth shifting. If this challenge is too difficult, then start with something small, such as carrying a reusable water bottle.

Ride bikes everywhere you go.

Every weekend, Mike and I make an effort to bike and walk everywhere. Last week, we biked to our coffee shop to refill our re-usable Cold Brew Howler. We walked to a restaurant when we wanted to dine out, and we bike to the library when we have to drop off books. Anything to try to limit car usage. In Mexico, I was very impressed to see that every Sunday, they close down the roads from 8 am to 4 pm so that people can bike and roller blade all day. It not only promotes physical activity and community, but also eco-friendly habits. Once we realized how close and accessible everything was on a bike, we started to use it more and more. Try it out for yourself!

Plant an herb garden.

While planting trees would be ideal, some such as ourselves do not have a backyard (or front yard for that matter). But I DO dream of planting an herb garden on our balcony one day. Why not start on Earth Day?

Simply get outside.

Notice the sun warming your face, the sound of trees moving in the wind, the smell of an ocean breeze. We can’t learn to appreciate the Earth if we don’t take the time to acknowledge it’s worth.

How about you guys? Doing anything fun this Earth Day? Leave comments and suggestions, I would love to hear them!

This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure to learn more.

I have not bought paper towels in over a year. Mostly as a direct result of my steely drive to avoid all things disposable, as best I could. Partly, to save the planet, partly to save money. Which is all fine and good, since I’ve spent countless years throwing these sheets of paper like confetti on a new year’s eve, celebrating what, exactly, I’m not sure. Convenience?

I find paper towels to be extremely unnecessary. I tried to make a list of all the things I used paper towels for in the past, and I have found that I could always substitute a re-usable, washable, sturdier piece of cloth. For example, for wiping messy mouths and hands at the dinner table, substitute linen napkins. For wiping down newly washed dinnerware, substitute kitchen towel. For wiping down surfaces sprayed with chemically-laden cleaning supplies, substitute rags. For straining oil from deeply fried foods, leave it to a strainer. Or may I suggest, eliminate deeply fried foods? Except maybe for extremely moody days, when nothing will comfort you except freshly pipetted churros. Then, strainers it is.

Despite my history with paper towel use, I think there was always a part of me that was inclined against its extravagant use. I could thank my mother for this, as images of her tearing off corners of paper towel sheets, rather than the perforated lines that were meant to dictate how much could be used at a time, surface to my mind. As is the usual case, we turn into our parents whether we mean to or not. I remember when Mike and I started living together, and he noticed my funny paper towel use, something I was oblivious to. He asked one day, with a little exasperation in his voice, “Why do you tear them like that?” I look up, surprised at the jagged edges at the end of a paper towel roll hanging limply in the kitchen heat, not realizing what I had done. Reflexively, I answered, “So as not to waste it.”

When I decided to reduce waste, paper towels were one of the first things I let go. Nevermind that they were paper, which is a biodegradable material. They were unnecessary. That, and they seem to only come sold in plastic packaging. It seems that reducing waste and simplifying life came hand in hand in my story, so it was fairly easy to justify nixing the habit. What do we use instead?

Linen napkins, for every day dining.

We got these for a wedding gift, and we use them all the time! Whether we are hosting for a party of twelve, or eating burgers by our lonesome selves, these are always at hand, you know, to stay proper and all. I love linen, mostly for the way it looks and feels. It softens up over time, and the grey color allows me to dig into barbeque sauces and dribble mustard without worrying about staining (as if I can help the dribbling!). Like all cloth alternatives, I simply toss these in the wash along with other towels and rags and call it a day.

Kitchen towels, from drying hands to drying dishes.

These are always hanging from the cabinets, and each one has a designated role. The one under the sink is for wet hands, the one underneath the stove is for dry hands. There is one for drying dishes, and one for wiping down the coffee machines. Sometimes, they are used to cover resting dough, to keep the draft away. Sometimes they are used to top bowls of fruit left on the counter. Their uses are never-ending, and they are as reliable as an old friend.

Old tees, turned into rags.

Last week, we were hosting our usual boardgame night at our loft, when as chance would have it, a friend knocks over a glass of beer amidst a dramatic hand-gesture, and then catches it mid-air, but alas, with beer sloshing all over the floor. As laughter fills the room and apologies are brushed to the side, Mike gets up from the table and grabs a kitchen rag. Or, in our case, an old tee. My friend immediately picked up on the cloth, and credulously inquired, “Did you just grab a T Shirt?!” To which we had to explain that, in order to reduce waste, we had re-purposed T shirts into useful cleaning supplies. The roommate herself even pitched in on the “up-cycling” and donated her own used tees to our communal rag pile sitting underneath the sink. “I guess…”, the guest says dubiously. But when the beer spills for the second time that day, up the guest gets and grabs the tee and wipes down the mess. Which goes to show that habits can easily be shifted, perceptions easily changed, differences easily made. So what if it’s not glamorous, or matching, or new. It’s functional, and practical, and kind to the environment.

An old tee, catching the drips from a bamboo drying rack.

How about you guys? Ways to rid of paper towel use? How many years abstinence have you got? Words of wisdom welcomed.

For the curious, we absolutely love our collapsible bamboo dish rack, easily stored when guests are over and brought out on a busy weeknight. We got ours from Mother’s Market, but a similar one can be found here. The grey linens are a wedding gift from Restoration Hardware, although similar and more ethically made ones can be found here.

This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure to learn more.

It undertook a lot of internal debating (a few months worth, actually!) before I had enough guts (read as wits?) to start writing this review about my beloved Lunette cup. The hesitation, off course, came from a silly, socially-instilled instinct to be wary of ever saying the word period outside the context of grammar class, literary works, and historical recitations. We’ve been taught that periods are something to be ashamed of, and not talked about. (Also taboo, sharing personal stories about monthly cycles, esp. for the entire world to read.) But while the topic of Mother Nature remains uninvited to dinner parties with the in-laws, I figure that my blog already teeters between the norm and the unspoken, so I might as well bridge that gap here and feel all the more relieved about it. In fact, I would consider it a social responsibility to alert all menstruating persons of the existence of Lunette period cups (ah, that felt much better, writing it aloud), and to speak about Mother Nature openly for the sake of Mother Earth. Why keep the silence when half of the population consists of menstruating persons?

Before Lunette cups….

I struggled about the monthly wasteful habits I was engaging in. Specifically, single-use tampons in plastic capsules and the occasional single-use pads. TMI? Read on anyways. If you think about it, assuming each menstruating person uses an average of 4 tampons a day for seven days a week, twelve times out of a year, for thirty seven years, basic math tells me that each menstruating human uses 12,432 tampons over the course of time that Mother Nature chooses to visit. Multiply that number by all humans favoring tampons, and you’ve got a whole lot of tampon plastic applicators covering up that landfill. Now, not everyone prefers this method, so say they use pads instead. The math comes to something similar, and the visual of a piece of land covered with a mountain of pads is just as stark. So when I started to consider the planet’s needs and wants, I started to fret about my monthly decisions.

I considered many different alternatives.

First, I switched to recycled pads and tampons without plastic applicators. But still, knowing that I threw these away at the end of the day really bothered me. Then, I thought of the reusable rags that remind me of medieval times. A doable deed, but then I didn’t love the idea of walking around in soaked rags all day, and what of swimming? So then I looked into underwear that is made from materials that soak up the leaks. A fan of the new wave engineering, but then what of the smell? This post just gets worse and worse doesn’t it? And still, it didn’t solve my problem with the swimming. (Why the obsession with swimming you may ask. In high school, I was part of a swim class that required me to be in a pool every day, at a time when I was just starting recurring menstrual cycles. So yeah, the problem of periods and swimming still go hand in hand, and always will.) But as with everything that seems like it can’t get any worse, eventually, it gets better.

I found Lunette cup…

…right when I was about to give up. If I am being completely honest, what caught my attention at first was the fact that I could choose whatever color I wanted. This post is becoming all around shameless. For new users, what is a menstrual cup you may ask. For lack of a better image, think of a literal cup used to catch your flow. It’s reusable, safe, odorless, eco-friendly, and most importantly, comfortable. So comfortable I forget about Mother Nature all together, for up to twelve hours at a time! Which is such an upgrade from the typical 4-6 hours with other single-use tampons and pads.

The first question that I asked was, “How safe?” We’ve all been taught to care about the food that goes into our bodies, so why not the other things too? Lunette cups are made from medical-grade silicone that is FDA approved, hypoallergenic, toxin-free, durable, and isn’t harmful to human tissue. This Finnish company has thought of it all!

The next question obviously is how to use. The packaging comes with a very simple diagram with light verbage to walk every first user through the steps. After washing your hands (duh!), you simply fold the silicone cup and insert, allowing you to go about your day for up to twelve hours, worry free! Depending on one’s flow rate, you may have to remove and empty the cup more often than twelve hours. For convenience, there are two cup sizes, one larger than the other to accommodate heavier flows so that days are not bogged down with emptying cups. Once emptied, rinse, and repeat. The rinsing simply involves using cold water and then hot water. If you are concerned about needing to do this at a public restroom with only one common sink area, Lunette has got you covered with their Lunette CupWipes! But honestly, 12 hours is a long time, so as long as you remember to empty right before you leave the house and right after you get home, then there really is no need for the CupWipes. Then again, not everybody is a homebody. At the end of the cycle, I always boil my menstrual cup in a pot of water for 20 minutes. Lunette sends a small pouch with every purchase to store your cup in during non-menstruating days, which allows me to carry it around at all times, in case of surprise visits.

So now, the specifics…

…to the Lunette cup for me personally. TMI continues. And yes, I created questions for myself, then answered them. This is such a peculiar post…

Color: Pink! Erm, well, violet, technically.

Size: Lunette Size 1. This is the smaller size. I am 5’1″ and am barely over 100 pounds. I chose this one because to me, it seems it would be more comfortable for my petite frame.

How many times do you empty the cup?4 times a day for the first few days, 2-3 times for the later days. I could probably empty it less frequently if I get the larger size.

How long have you been using the Lunette Cup? I have been using Lunette cup for the past four months. I can’t believe I have lived so many years without one!

Have you ever used their cleaning products? No, not yet. I find that boiling the cup upon first receiving it and after every cycle is sufficient.

Is there a time where you’ve found it inconvenient? Yes. Only once. When we traveled to Mexico City and I was not confident that faucet water was as bacteria free as I would like. I had to keep waiting for a time and place where I was able to take a bottled water into a private bathroom with me and use that to rinse the cup. This may have been the only time I would have bought the cleaning products, if I thought of it ahead of time.

Is it difficult to use? No! The learning curve is flat as a valley, it’s so easy! And it teaches you so much about your anatomy. I think we all need to start learning more about our bodies, in general, instead of always trying to hide away from it. I think everyone should give this a try.

For those interested in trying Lunette for the first time, use the code EarthDay18 to get 20% off of all Single Lunette Cups! Feeling charitable? Try the Charitable Buy One, Give One Menstrual Cup, benefitting girls and women in need around the world.

This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure to learn more.

This post is sponsored by Plaine Products, a company devoted to reducing single-use plastic waste in everyday bathroom essentials.

Lindsey McCoy and Alison Webster are the sister duo that co-founded Plaine Products. Lindsey’s determination to reduce single-use plastic coupled with Alison’s design background fostered a new way for people, such as myself, to enjoy bathroom essentials without the guilt of having to buy plastic bottles. Additionally, their products are vegan, toxin-free, child-safe, biodegradable and never animal-tested! They have now become my go-to source for staple items such as hair conditioner and lotion, two products for which I have not found a better alternative, thus far.

What inspired you to start Plaine Products?

For 10 years, I lived in the The Bahamas doing environment education work. While I loved living there, it wasn’t all rum drinks on the beach. On a small island, there’s no first world infrastructure to insulate you from the piles of plastic we are creating. You see plastic bags, bottles, and flip flops on the beach, in the water, spilling out of the landfills, and strewn along the side of the road. There’s even a place so full of plastic it’s called Junk Beach. The message that plastic lasts forever, no matter how long we use it, is much more obvious living there than it is in the States.

I wanted to start using less plastic in my life. I started taking action: carrying a reusable water bottle, reusable grocery bags, skipping the straw at the restaurants and bars. I looked for other ways to use less plastic. But I couldn’t figure out how to get those plastic bottles out of my shower. I couldn’t find any alternatives that worked for me and my hair.

As we contemplated a move back to the States, I realized that I might be able to solve my own problem. Even better, I might be able to help other people use less plastic in their lives. I pulled in my sister, Alison Webster, who has a design degree and strong opinions about the quality of her products. Together, we spent two years working hard to make it easier for people to get quality products without having to buy single-use plastic bottles.

What is the mission or the goal of your company?

Our goal is to make it easy for people to get quality, toxin-free products without having to buy single-use plastic bottles. The less single-use plastic in the world taking up room in our landfills, spilling into our oceans, the better for all of us. And, although we didn’t start out to be a natural company, I’ve become a huge advocate of keeping harmful chemicals out of the products we put on and in our bodies as well.

I love that your product has natural ingredients. You guys are obviously not simply focusing on the environment, but also on the chemical make-up of the products people use on themselves too. What are your requirements for the ingredients that go into Plaine Products?

We spent a lot of time figuring out how to make sure the products themselves wer as environmentally friendly and as high quality as the packaging we decide to put them in. Happily, we found a manufacturer that is as committed as we are to natural products and ingredients. For example, originally our products had wheat and silk proteins, which were of concern to vegans and those with gluten allergies. While the silk proteins were from a biological source, our manufacturer was able to tweak the formula to remove those ingredients so that we could move forward without any concern from either of those groups. Our success thus far is not only because of the innovative packaging, it has also been because people genuinely like what’s inside the packaging.

What is the impact that we can have on the environment by switching to re-usable shampoo bottles? And why is using recyclable plastic bottles not a good enough solution?

While plastic is an amazing product, it doesn’t make sense for stuff we use once and then throw away. Companies use it because it’s cheap, but it’s only cheap because they aren’t paying for the cost of the waste it creates. More than 550 million shampoo bottles end up in landfills every year, and that’s just shampoo! While it’s great to recycle plastic, because it is downgraded when it is recycled, it can only go through the process once or twice before it heads to the landfill. Aluminum can be recycled infinitely and recycling aluminum actually uses less energy than creating bottles for virgin aluminum.

How are you guys working to create a circular economy?

Our whole model is circular. You order your preferred products. When your bottles are low, you order a refill, or you can subscribe and we’ll send the bottles automatically. When the refills come, you’ll switch the pumps over and send back the empty bottles in the refill box, while we at Plaine Products covers the cost. Then we clean the bottles, refill them, and reuse them.

As far as we know, we are the only company that pays for you to send your bottles back to be cleaned, refilled, and reused. Once the bottles have gone through several cycles, we’ll send them off to be recycled. The nice thing about aluminum, as opposed to plastic, is that when it’s recycled, there’s no loss in quality. It just turns right back into more aluminum. When plastic is recycled it is downgraded into a lower form of plastic until it becomes unusable and ends up in a landfill or the ocean.

Do you think that the environmental effects of the shipping of products (say from carbon emissions) outweigh the impact of plastic pollution at our landfills and oceans?

I always say if people have a local solution that’s working for them, they should keep doing it. This was created for people who didn’t have access to other options. That being said we are very aware of our carbon footprint. We use the US Postal Service so there are no extra trips made just to deliver our bottles. We are looking into integrating carbon offsets into our shop and we don’t ship internationally right now. Before we expand we want to find a partner so we can keep the bottles in country. Shipping them back and forth over an ocean doesn’t make sense.

I do appreciate that your product is available to me in particular, as I have also had a hard time finding a local solution to single-use plastic in my bathroom! As a follow up to the previous question, are there any plans to open stores, either in NY or across the country?

We already have formed partnerships with several existing retail stores, like the Package Free Shop in Brooklyn, and we hope our list continues to grow.

What new products can we look forward to?

We just added a travel size body lotion and we completed a successful Kickstarter campaign, so keep your eyes out for our face wash and face moisturizer, available on the site this summer!

Out of curiosity, what other ways do you personally reduce plastic waste in the bathroom? Any actionable tips?

I started Plaine Products so that I could get single-use plastics out of my bathroom. Up until that point, I hadn’t found another solution that worked for me. In addition to using our products, I have a bamboo toothbrush and I make my own homemade toothpaste (which is much easier than it sounds!).

I am SO glad you mentioned the toothpaste recipe! I cannot wait to try it out for myself. Lastly, are there any books, podcasts, articles, documentaries or other resources that you would recommend to people who are interested in reducing plastic waste?

There’s so much good stuff out there.Some of my favorite bloggers (all are also on social media), are Going Zero Waste, Be Zero, Litterlessand Zero Waste Nerd. There’s so much information out there and so many accessible ideas on ways to get started. I think people should focus on progress, not perfection. Pick one area to reduce plastic and see how that goes, celebrate the successes and don’t get hung up on the time you use single use plastic, it’s hard to avoid! Like anything else, it comes with practice.

Earth Day is this coming Sunday, April 22! To curb your plastic waste for Earth Day and every day, try out one of Plaine Products’s bath essentials. Or order them travel sized for your next vacation. This Earth Day, there will be a site-wide sale from April 20th to April 22nd, where all Plaine Products will be 22% off with the discount earthday at checkout.

This post is sponsored by Bogobrush, a source for ethically made, sustainable toothbrushes, with a one-for-one give-back program for low-income communities.

We all know that prevention is better than treatment when it comes to the dental office. There are many ways to prevent caries formation and periodontal disease, the most common of which are proper oral hygiene at home and consistent visits to the dentist for dental check-ups and cleanings. Off course, there are many tools one can use to implement oral hygiene at home. However, the tools are not as important as the methods with which we carry out our everyday oral hygiene. Hence, this short discussion on tooth brushing techniques.

People always see me at the dental office and ask me, “Hey Doc, do I need an electric toothbrush?” Well, that depends. Are you physically capable of brushing your teeth? If you are without Parkinson’s or Rheumatoid Arthritis, or other such conditions that could impair your ability to hold and maneuver a toothbrush, then I would venture that you do not need an electric toothbrush. Now, if the question you meant to ask was, “Could I benefit from an electric toothbrush?”, well, that depends too. If you put in the minimal time and effort to learn how to use a toothbrush effectively, then a manual toothbrush would work equally as well as an electric toothbrush. If you do not want to put in the effort to learn how to properly yield a manual toothbrush, then yes, you can buy a gadget that can do the work for you. It makes sense that the results of inefficient manual toothbrush techniques will be subpar with the results of a vibrating electric toothbrush. However, what most people do not understand is that the results of an efficient manual toothbrush can be as good, and sometimes even better, than your new gadget.

So, in an effort to save you some money, and to save the planet from unnecessary plastic devices, I am going to discuss tooth brushing techniques using my favorite, eco-friendly, socially-conscious Bogobrush.

How to hold your toothbrush.

Most people brush too hard. The point is not to be vigorous with brushing. I know that your intentions are good, and you are making all efforts to remove the plaque from your teeth as best as you can, but excessive forces while brushing can lead to recession of the gums, which can then unleash another set of problems such as teeth sensitivity. Dentists love gums as much as teeth, so we definitely do not want to do that! The root of the problem is usually in the way a person holds their toothbrush. Usually, I see people enclosing their entire fists around the handle, which increases the pressure they can exert on the gum tissue. Unfortunately, this is WAY too much pressure. You want to hold your toothbrush like a flute. Four fingers on the top and the thumb on the bottom. You will notice the vast difference in pressure, and your gums will be all the more happier about it.

Tooth Brushing Techniques

There are multiple tooth brushing techniques! Some are good, some not so good, and some are entirely bad. The methods that I will discuss today are the Bass Method, Stillman Method, and Charter’s Method, the names of which are completely unimportant, but the techniques of which are instrumental. All three methods can be modified, which will also be discussed here. Lastly, there are a few subpar methods called the Fones Method and the Roll-Stroke Brushing technique, which could be useful in teaching children elementary brushing techniques, however, they are not entirely effective in plaque removal and require graduation from once the individual is capable. But first…

How NOT to Brush Your Teeth: The Horizontal Method

A lot of people brush their teeth in horizontal fashion. Meaning they move the toothbrush left to right, from the posterior teeth to the anterior teeth, back and forth over and over again. Typically the toothbrush is pointed directly at the teeth, without ever touching the gums, which is the first negative part about this technique. Plaque will tend to accumulate near the gum line, so we definitely want to focus in this area. However, it’s just as bad if the horizontal method was carried out while pointing the toothbrush at the gums. This method is one of the leading causes of abrasion lesions. This means that the back and forth motion scrapes away at the gums and causes recession of the gum tissue. And as we said earlier, we want nice healthy gums to be covering the roots of our teeth. In the past, this is the tooth brushing method that was taught, so I hardly blame anyone who still believes that this is the optimal technique. But my dear friends, times have changed. Hand in hand with the idea of brushing your teeth as hard as you can, we now know that this is not the ideal way to brush teeth.

Good Brushing Techniques:

So how DO we want to brush our teeth? Below are three methods of teeth brushing. The three methods may seem very similar, and a mixture of these techniques may be used. The one unifying link between these brushing techniques that I think is an important take-away is the fact that the toothbrush is angled towards the gum line at a 45 degree angle, always!

The Bass Technique

This is my favorite brushing technique and it is actually one of the most effective because of its ability to remove plaque underneath your gum line, which then helps prevent periodontal infection.

Method: Point the toothbrush towards your gum line (where your tooth and your gums meet) at a 45 degree angle. Gently put enough pressure so that the bristles of the toothbrush enter the gingival sulcus, otherwise known as the space between the tooth and the gums. Create a vibrational movement using very very short back and forth strokes. You need to do 10-15 strokes per tooth (which is essentially what you pay an electric toothbrush to do for you). The important part is to do this vibrational motion without removing the bristles from the sulcus. After 10-15 strokes, you can move to the next tooth.

The Stillman Technique

Method: This is very similar to bass technique with a slight modification. You will still point the bristles at a 45 degree angle towards the gum and place similar pressure. As you vibrate the toothbrush using short strokes, you move the toothbrush towards the occlusal surface (otherwise known as the top of the tooth). So in essence, you start at the gum line and move towards the tops of your teeth, while moving in this vibrating motion!

The Charter’s Technique

Lastly, the Charter’s technique is used when there is an appliance in the mouth, such as braces!

Method: Think of the Charter’s technique as an inverted version of the Bass Technique. Instead of the toothbrush pointing at the gums, we want the toothbrush bristles to be pointing towards the occlusal surface of the tooth (or top of the tooth). The sides of the bristles should then be pushed up alongside the gums. The toothbrush should still be at a 45 degree angle. Vibrational movements are still used to remove the plaque.

Modified Versions of Techniques 1-3

The modified versions of all three techniques can be made, wherein one rolls the toothbrush towards the occlusal surface (or tops of the teeth) at the end of each vibrational sequence (Remember, 10-15 vibrational strokes per tooth!).

Brushing Techniques for the Young Learner

Fones Technique

This technique is one of the subpar techniques that can be used to LEARN how to brush, in a very elementary sense, but is not extremely efficient in removing plaque. We teach this technique to children who are just learning how to brush their teeth.

Method: This technique is known as the circular brushing method. A toothbrush is placed on a set of teeth and is moved in a circular fashion a few times, before moving to the next set of teeth. It is important to understand that this method is only meant to be used to introduce people to brushing techniques.

2. Roll Stroke Brushing Technique

Similar to the Fones Technique, this technique is also subpar, but is simple and requires little practice, so it is usually used as an introduction to tooth brushing.

Method: Place the toothbrush towards the gums and swipe towards the occlusal surface of the tooth (the top of the tooth). Continue this movement until all teeth have been brushed.

Common spots you don’t want to miss!

It’s easy to forget about the backs of your teeth, but those are equally important as well. The back of your front teeth are where plaque and calculus tend to accumulate for most people, mostly because this area is so easily forgotten. Brushing the backs of anterior teeth can be very difficult, so here are some images to show how you can achieve the 45 degree angle in such a funky spot. Uncomfortable at first, but like everything else, it’ll fall right into “normal” after a few practice runs. Disclaimer: you have to brush the backs of anterior teeth with an electric toothbrush too!

So there we have it! Tooth brushing techniques that will save you from needing an electric toothbrush, and the planet from unnecessary plastic.

Fun Fact: On average, a person should be replacing their toothbrush every 3-4 months. Once the bristles are splayed out, they are less efficient at removing plaque. Conveniently, Bogobrush has a subscription option that will automatically send your next toothbrush at a monthly interval of your choosing. Bogobrush is currently offering TheDebtist readers their first subscription for free.

This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure to learn more.

I’ve already said my piece here regarding reducing plastic waste in my daily hygiene routine, by switching to bars of shampoo and conditioner and soap. But what of lotion? What of wintry dry skin, flaking away at the shudder of a cold, harsh winter wind? We live in sunny Southern California, but nonetheless, sensitive, scaly skin prevails in this dry desertland. Surely, there is no lotion bar? At the very least, I have yet to discover it.

There is, however, the introduction of a new company called Plaine Products. Focused on the idea of reusable containers, sisters Lindsey and Alison Delaplaine created a way to offer shampoo, conditioner, body wash, AND lotion in aluminum reusable bottles. The stuff itself is quite lovely and aromatic, with two scent options. A rosemary, mint, and vanilla combination for the fall and winter, and a citrus lavender for the spring and summer, or so I like to think. Associate with the scents whatever seasons tickle your fancy. I must admit that I was ready for an alternative that would allow me to switch back to liquid conditioners. Bar soap shampoos are fine in my book, but my hair was starting to hang a bit too heavy, giving it a sadder appearance than my cheery personality would like. Nothing Plaine Products couldn’t save. After one day of switching to liquid shampoo and conditioner, the flounce of the hair has been returned. And the lotion has got my skin feeling silky, without my conscience feeling plastic-guilt. It’s a thing, I swear!

The concept behind the refillability (not a word?) of the bottles is simple. It’s a wonder why it is not more widely implemented. A subscription can be shipped to your door in a box (made of 95% post-consumer waste and 5% post-industrial waste), which can act as the same vessel to return your already used and empty bottles back to the company. The bottles are then refilled, thus giving them a new life. You can opt to order the new bottle without the pump, if you already own a pump that’s easily reusable. The box is reused, the bottle is reused, and the plastic pump is reused. Multiply that to account for shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and lotion, and we’ve got ourselves quite an impact. Currently, face wash, hand wash, and face moisturizer products are in the works.

In an effort to be all around environmentally friendly, the contents are well considered. The products avoid animal testing of any kind, is devoid of sulfates, parabens, and pthalates, and is designed to biodegrade more easily than typical, chemical products. The specifics of the contents can be found here, if microanalysis of such details are your thing, just as they are mine. Proudly vegan, the main component of their products are none other than Aloe Vera. The same extract that my mom would scrape from the plant leaves and weave into our hairs before a night’s rest. Less sticky, less messy, less fuss and crying and wails of discontent (sorry mom!).

I must admit, I do still have to deal with the internal struggle of whether the back-and-forth shipping of subscriptions really outweighs the long-term consequences of the plastic that never degrades. The elusiveness of the topic at large feeds the frustration I feel when well-intentioned actions are unclear in their effects. It’s as if a cloud is purposefully shifted above the whole matter, making it difficult to really measure the impact of hauling our goods versus increasing plastic waste, which alternatively blankets our ability to measure the opposite as well. While we could discuss this topic for a long time and perhaps stay stagnant in our search for an answer, I would like to say that for now, Plaine Products gives us plastic-avoiders a welcome alternative. As does nixing shampoo all-together, a step I admittedly am not ready to make.

Care to give them a try? Order your first Plaine Products today! TheDebtist readers will receive 10% off of their purchase when the code thedebtist10 is entered at checkout. The shipping was quick, and hassle-free, with an option to subscribe to their products for regularly spaced deliveries, if simplicity is kind of your thing.

Mandy Kordal is the founder of Kordal Studio, whose mission is to create garments in an ethical manner by paying their workers a fair wage, designing garments that are not trend-focused, and using natural and organic textiles. Their products are focused on knitwear made by experienced knitters based in both Lima, Peru & NYC. They create our garments using both handloom and Shima Seki whole garment knitting machines. Both processes create a fully fashioned product, meaning each piece is knit to the exact shape and there are no left over materials. All of their cut & sew wovens are produced in NYC and dyed at a local dye house in New Jersey.

How did you start in the fashion industry? What inflection point inspired you to start a sustainable company?

​I studied fashion design at the University of Cincinnati’s DAAP program. During the course of the program, you are in school for half of the year and working in the industry for the other half. So, every summer and winter, I was traveling to a new city and working for fashion companies like Gap, Trovata, Hannah Marshall, etc. This was so helpful because I learned early on that I really loved working for smaller companies. After graduating I worked for a two years as an assistant designer, one year with Betsey Johnson and another year at Doori.

I don’t know if there was a specific point or moment that marked when I was inspired to start a sustainable company. I guess I approached starting my company the way I would begin any relationship. I wanted to treat the people I worked with well and with respect, to consider the impact on the environment, and to create beautiful quality clothing. Along the way, I worked freelance design jobs for larger companies to supplement my income and became very aware of the impact the fashion industry was having on the environment. The amount of over-sampling and textile waste alone was horrifying! In the end, I guess it was a combination of wanting to create a company that embodied my values and learning about the real impact this industry has on the environment, having our company be as sustainable as possible was the only option.

How did you find the courage to start?

I think any amount of courage came from my friends and family, who have been my champions since the beginning and I honestly couldn’t have started without their support and encouragement. But also, I was 25 when I started the company. Previously I had been working as an assistant designer making 30k a year in NYC, so I didn’t have much to lose! I was extremely lucky to not have student loans, I knew how to live in the city on very little money already, I didn’t have a family to support, etc. Those factors helped a lot! Not to say that is the only way, but it made the decision to start a little less scary.

What is Kordal’s mission statement? What do you hope to accomplish with your company, in terms of changing the way the fashion industry works?

​Our mission is to create garments in an ethical manner by paying our workers a fair wage, designing garments that are not trend-focused, and using natural and organic textiles. Our hope is that our existence as an alternative to fast-fashion, along with many of the other sustainable brands out there, provides customers with a choice. We have the power to change things through our purchases. We saw it with the food industry! Even Walmart now carries organic products because more and more customers purchased it. If all of these smaller brands can prove that investing in sustainable fashion is not only important but also profitable, then we can shift the thinking of the larger companies as well. At least that’s the hope!

What requirements do you have to ensure a sustainable and slow fashion model?

My personal requirements are that all of our employees, vendors, makers are all paid a fair wage. That all of our fabrications and yarns are natural fibers that will eventually bio-degrade back into the earth, and as much as possible we are working with Organic Certified materials. We are also committed to reducing the amount of plastic use in our shipping and receiving, we recently made a switch to mesh reusable bags for all of our garments vs. working with poly bags.

In a very demanding industry such as fashion, how do you resist the pressure of creating for 52 seasons? How do you keep you and your brand grounded?

​Ha! Oh man, creating just two seasons is already insane at times! Are there really 52 seasons? I think we’ve been lucky to work with boutiques that share the same values as we do. We don’t work with large department stores for example, so we’re able set our own pace, more or less. I also think we’ve been able to stay grounded becaus​e we don’t have investors or external influences pushing us to produce more things faster It’s been self funded from the beginning, which means our growth has been slow and steady.

How do you source fabric ethically? What other ways do you ensure ethical practices for your company?

​We are lucky to have a great community of sustainable designers here in NY, so when I’m trying to source a new denim fabrication, for example, I don’t have to start from square one. I can reach out to friends in this group to help begin my research. For designers starting out, I would recommend the BF+DA sourcing library. They’ve created a great sourcing library for all sustainable fabric and yarn vendors! Other ways to ensure ethical practices is to look for certifications from your vendors, such as Fair Trade or GOT.

In what ways can consumer’s contribute towards making a change away from fast fashion?

​Supporting smaller brands, asking the larger companies difficult questions, like “Who made my clothes?”, buying second-hand or vintage, and staying away from synthetic fabrics (they will stay in landfills for hundreds of years, just like plastic!).

What governmental policies do you feel could go into effect that could improve the fashion industry?

​Import-Based Tax – I think if there was an tax on imported goods that would help level the playing field for domestic manufacturing. ​

Are there any particular podcasts or books about fashion that you could recommend to readers?

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About me

Hi everyone! My name is Samm. I am a debtist – a dentist who graduated with a lot of student debt. After four years of undergrad and four years of dental school, I ended up with a debt of over $550k, which I then had to start paying back. This led me to a series of life changes and discoveries about myself in my late twenties that shaped my lifestyle into what it is today. Saving money required us to be more frugal, and being more frugal opened up the doors to finding alternative ways to find happiness in things that don’t require consumerism. I now embrace a simple life. I live in OC with my husband, although we prefer to be traveling, and do so when we can. We focus more on experiences rather than material things. Being selective when it comes to purchasing consumer goods, we spend most of our money and time acquiring new skills, picking up new hobbies, learning about new cultures, and exploring the globe. I’ve become more intentional with my life decisions, and am currently working towards buying my freedom from my massive loan, but not at the expense of giving up my life in exchange for grueling work hours. Open to questioning society’s standards of success, I am finding ways to reach my life goals by refusing some things that we take for granted as the norm. Balance is key, and this is my journey towards financial freedom, in the process of discovering what life is really about.

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